We spent our entire budget on a chicken

Today’s music industry is saturated with an array of talent, making it difficult for up-and-coming musicians – or even veterans – to stand out from the crowd. In turn, artists have opted for a variety of bizarre ideas to turn heads. The band Casual Riots, for example, stated they spent their entire budget on a photoshoot with a chicken – rather tame in comparison to some of today's top artists. From self-sabotage to wild props and over-the-top stage productions, here are some of our favourite budget-blowing things musicians have done for publicity.

Kanye West Superbowl

At the 2024 Super Bowl between the San Francisco 49ers and the Kansas City Chiefs, rap legend Kanye West (known as Ye) bought one of the costly advertising slots for his clothing brand, Yeezy. The Super Bowl adverts are just as famous as the game itself with most commercials produced just for the game. The commercials don't come cheap as 30 seconds of play time can set you back around $7 million.

In his now iconic ad, Ye films himself sitting in a moving car, filming on his phone, as he details that he and his team spent their entire budget on the Super Bowl slot alone and therefore have nothing to show for it other than this video. Regardless, Ye humorously tells viewers to visit his website as he’s “got some shoes and mmmmm… thats it”. The video did its job as Ye reportedly profited roughly $12.3 million (before tax) in 24 hours.

The KLF

One of the biggest-selling singles bands ever, The KLF, were well known for their alternative electronic dance tunes, deleting tracks and ridiculously long samples. They faced various big lawsuits from industry giants such as ABBA after lifting minutes of material from hit songs.

The KLF were anti-industry. They despised the attention and fame they had garnered over the years. After becoming the biggest-selling singles act in Europe in 1991, they decided they’d had enough. This led to a series of attempts to self destruct themselves, such as playing an awful heavy metal rendition of their hit dance track 3am Eternal for the BRIT awards, deleting their entire discography and infamously burning £1 million in cash.

In August of 1994, two years after the BRIT awards incident, The KLF (at that point The K Foundation) journeyed out to the Isle of Jura in Scotland with £1 million made up of £50 notes which they set on fire in an abandoned warehouse while filming the entire event. The band still has no justification for their actions, and ironically this final act became the defining moment for the KLF. They don’t regret burning the money, but rather that the spectacle became their legacy.

U2 PopMart Tour

The Irish icons’ 1997-98 PopMart Tour is well known as one of the most extravagant rock tours of all time. Most of the costs went towards the stage which consisted of the world's largest LED screen, a giant 40-foot golden arch and mirror-ball lemon. The stage cost about $100 million to make with roughly $20-30 million alone in shipping and transport. Not to mention an enormous amount of money went into insuring the massive screen.

The band needed 120 trucks, multiple jumbo jets and a team of 250 people to transport the stage across 5 continents. They wanted the same exact stage for every location, giving fans the same spectacle everywhere. Although seen as a complete flop by the press, the tour was a massive success as Popmart grossed $173 million.

 Rammstein 

The famed Neue Deutsche Härte group (a subgenre of rock and metal) gained fame with their heavily distorted, mechanical, march-like tracks. With Till Lindemann’s deep voice at its front, their unique sound has made them a global sensation. But it's not their only standout feature.

Since their formation in Berlin in the 90’s the groups live performances have become stuff of legend all thanks to their impressive pyrotechnics displays. An estimated $50,000 - $100,000 is spent per show. This includes flamethrower masks, flaming guitar rigs, exploding props and more. So much of their money goes into pyrometrics that they have their own dedicated pyro crew at each show, bringing along multiple fuel trucks. Sometimes they have to tone it down to comply with local laws, which can cost a little extra through stage modifications. 

With spectacle and brand becoming just as important as songs themselves (especially in this digital age), we are guaranteed to see plenty of wild and budget breaking publicity stunts in the coming years. I know I’m hoping for some more chickens. 

Written by Jack Muray

Edited by Alex Kelleher